The use of computer systems and computer-related technologies continues to increase at a rapid pace. This increased use of computer systems has influenced the advances made to computer-related technologies. Indeed, computer systems have increasingly become an integral part of the business world and the activities of individual consumers. Computer systems may be used to carry out several business, industry, and academic endeavors. The wide-spread use of computers has been accelerated by the increased use of computer networks, including the Internet.
Many businesses use one or more computer networks to communicate and share data between the various computers connected to the networks. The productivity and efficiency of employees often require human and computer interaction. Users of computer technologies continue to demand an increase in the efficiency of these technologies. Improving the efficiency of computer technologies is always desirable to anyone who uses and relies on computers.
Various threats may be harmful to computers. These threats may include malware, shellcode, viruses, worms, and the like. Threats to computers are a problem in modern day computing. For example, a computer threat may be a program that may attach to other programs and/or objects, may replicate itself, and/or may perform unsolicited or malicious actions on a computer. Computer threats may cause unrecoverable errors, delete files, create intermittent problems and otherwise cause individuals and businesses much frustration and other damage. Attacks on computers carried out by these threats seek to exploit vulnerabilities in computers.
Threats may enter a computer system in a number of ways. For example, a threat may be knowingly downloaded to a computer, such as where the undesired malicious effect is not known or appreciated at the time of downloading the threat. Further, a threat may tag along with other threats that are downloaded to the computer. Still further, the threat may enter the computer system unknown to the computer user. These threats have effects on the computer that may be unknown to the user and/or undesired by the user.